Donald Trump's presidency arrives every day in higher prices, higher interest costs, and a shrinking margin for America's future.
by Van AbbottGuest Contributor
The bill for Donald Trump's presidency arrives every day in higher prices, higher interest costs, and a shrinking margin for America's future. The trillion-dollar presidency is no longer a prediction. It is a governing model. Decisions on war, trade, borrowing, immigration, and industrial policy do not operate independently. They compound. One increases risk, another increases debt, a third weakens growth. Together they leave Americans paying more while receiving less. Nowhere is that pattern more visible than in Iran. In 2017, Trump inherited a functioning nuclear agreement that placed verifiable limits on Iran's nuclear program. He tore it up. The result was not a better deal, a safer Middle East, or a more secure America. Instead, tensions escalated. The U.S. killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in 2020. Iran accelerated uranium enrichment. Proxy attacks multiplied. By early 2025, the escalation had produced sustained military exchanges between the United States and Iran, including strikes on Iranian soil and retaliatory attacks on American forces and regional partners. The costs are already spreading through the global economy. Iranian attacks on shipping, missile exchanges across the Gulf, and repeated threats to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz have injected instability into energy markets. Even when oil continues to flow, risk alone drives prices higher. Those increases ripple through transportation, manufacturing, food production, and consumer goods. Americans feel the consequences every time they fill a gas tank or buy groceries. War has always carried hidden costs. The Congressional Budget Office projects federal deficits approaching $2 trillion annually. Meanwhile, interest payments on the national debt have become one of the fastest-growing expenses in the federal budget. Washington now spends more servicing debt than it spends on many investments that strengthen long-term growth. Every additional military commitment deepens the problem. Borrow more, spend more, pay more. The danger is not merely today's deficit. It is the compounding effect. Higher borrowing drives up interest costs. Higher interest costs crowd out productive investment. Slower growth produces even larger deficits. The cycle feeds itself. America's financial standing is already showing signs of strain. In May 2025, Moody's became the last major credit-rating agency to strip the United States of its highest credit rating, citing rising debt levels and deteriorating fiscal management. Economic growth depends on three ingredients: capital, talent, and confidence. This presidency is undermining all three. Investors face policy whiplash, skilled workers face growing barriers, and businesses face mounting uncertainty. When capital hesitates, talent leaves, and confidence fades, growth slows. The cost is measured not only in what Americans pay today but in what the nation fails to build tomorrow. Trade policy magnifies the damage. The administration's tariff agenda has lurched from one challenge to another. Trading partners have retaliated. Businesses struggle to plan around policies that shift with each new announcement. Tariffs function as taxes on imported goods, raising costs throughout supply chains and ultimately passing many of those costs to consumers. The result is paralysis. Companies delay investment. They delay hiring. They delay expansion. Capital does not fear taxes nearly as much as it fears unpredictability. The same instability appears in immigration policy. For generations, talented engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and students viewed the United States as the world's premier destination for opportunity. That is changing. The Institute of International Education reported declining enrollment intentions among international students, with more STEM candidates choosing Canada, Germany, and Australia. Visa restrictions, processing delays, and policy uncertainty are not merely slowing the pipeline. They are redirecting it. America is not merely losing workers. It is losing inventors, founders, researchers, and future industries. Energy policy tells a similar story. Clean-energy incentives have been weakened, projects delayed, and billions of dollars in planned investments thrown into doubt. Businesses require predictable rules before committing billions in capital. Constant policy reversals increase financing costs and discourage investment. Overlaying all of this is a governing style built on transaction rather than principle. Tariffs appear negotiable. Enforcement appears selective. Pardons, contracts, and regulatory decisions often seem driven by personal relationships or political loyalty rather than consistent standards. Markets notice. Investors notice. America's allies notice. When policy becomes a bargaining chip rather than a commitment, confidence erodes. Investment retreats. Growth slows. The bill for Donald Trump's presidency arrives every day in higher prices, higher interest costs, and a shrinking margin for America's future. Unless Americans reject a politics of permanent crisis, the costs will keep mounting, the opportunities will keep shrinking, and the bill will keep arriving.
About the author ~
Van Abbott is a long time resident of Alaska and California. He has held financial management positions in government and private organizations in California, Kansas, and Alaska. He is retired and writes Op-Eds as a hobby. He served in the Peace Corps in the late sixties. You can find more of his commentaries and comments on life in America on Substack.
Van Abbott is a long time resident of Alaska and California. He has held financial management positions in government and private organizations in California, Kansas, and Alaska. He is retired and writes Op-Eds as a hobby. He served in the Peace Corps in the late sixties. You can find more of his commentaries and comments on life in America on Substack.
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Whether you agree, disagree, or want to build on the ideas in this piece, we’d love to hear your voice. If you have an opinion you’d like to share — on this topic or any other — you can find our submission guidelines here: Sentinel submission guideline. We welcome a wide range of viewpoints and would be glad to consider your perspective for publication on OurSentinel.com. . Send your letter or commentary to editor@oursentinel.com and help keep the community conversation moving forward.
